Super Lemon Haze x 3

[InTheShed]

I think I'm confused about the process, but I'm sure you're not! I thought hempy was top watered since there are all those roots in the perlite from top to reservoir. If you fill the tub, does the perlite wick well enough to keep all the rest of the roots in nutes?

 

[BTzGrow]

I think I'm confused about the process, but I'm sure you're not! I thought hempy was top watered since there are all those roots in the perlite from top to reservoir. If you fill the tub, does the perlite wick well enough to keep all the rest of the roots in nutes?

You are correct as many hempy growers pour to waste from the top. However in research the perlite does wick up. My understanding and it seems to hold out with experience is the Perlite actually wicks moisture up at least 8inches. So with a 2inch reservoir filled with nutrient RO water the plant is getting at least 10inches of growing space for the roots to access moisture. When the roots really fill in they add to the wicking process to some small extent.

The Ebb&Flow experiment I did last year had the roots fill in the bucket quite completely. That is even with them snaking outside the pot and gathering more feed from the watering tray. So I'm quite confident of the process this time of just bottom feeding the reservoir. Stay tuned we will all learn more as the proceeds.

 

[HashGirl]

Say hi to Felipe for me. Hope your plants are good when you return home.

 

[BTzGrow]

HG I will certainly give him all of your best from the group here. I will also get a couple of pictures to update and such.

On another note I have spent a little bit of time considering the question regarding top feeding Hempy with perlite. We do know that perlite wicks about 8inches as I mentioned before. These current plants haven't had top feeding since I re=potted them at the beginning of the week. I did do a ebb&flow yesterday and have been checking the level of the reservoir by slightly tilting the pot and watching for runoff.

The other indicator it's working well is these plants all look strong and vibrant and if they were needing to be feed from the top they would be looking rather pitiful. Pictures to follow perhaps on Sunday when I do another flood of the tray.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

When I had my nft setup I would top feed 15 minutes out of every hour by timer. I also added my supplements on top about 4 times a day by hand.
The only reason I did everything from the top was because I wanted to encourage the roots to spread throughout the pot. My pots were only 8 inches deep and when I did my first harvest I realized that most of the root mass was stuck to the bottom of my pots. I wanted better root spread throughout the pots top to bottom. Hand watering 4 times a day all over the top of the pot I believe helped me achieve this. Placing my plants at the very top of my pots or higher was also very helpful in creating a better root mass.

I've now switched to coco and cloth pots and gained 2 feet of head space. My current crop is my fastest growing to date, I was gonna switch to bloom at the end of the month...I'm not gonna make it, next week at the latest.

 

[BTzGrow]

When I had my nft setup I would top feed 15 minutes out of every hour by timer. I also added my supplements on top about 4 times a day by hand.
The only reason I did everything from the top was because I wanted to encourage the roots to spread throughout the pot. My pots were only 8 inches deep and when I did my first harvest I realized that most of the root mass was stuck to the bottom of my pots. I wanted better root spread throughout the pots top to bottom. Hand watering 4 times a day all over the top of the pot I believe helped me achieve this. Placing my plants at the very top of my pots or higher was also very helpful in creating a better root mass.

I've now switched to coco and cloth pots and gained 2 feet of head space. My current crop is my fastest growing to date, I was gonna switch to bloom at the end of the month...I'm not gonna make it, next week at the latest.

Thanks Bob for your comments and thoughts. I hadn't heard of NFT so I quicky did a google search and watched a basic youtube on the idea.

I see your point regarding filling in the entire pot with roots. That has always been my intent and have normally been successful in that regard in the past with normal Hempy Pot growing. I have always fed from the top of course.

When I made my last ebb&flow efforts I did see some reduction of root growth higher up in the pot and I considered that was because I didn't have a reservoir. Using rose pots with holes already present around the bottom prevented that. The other problem that created was the roots snaked out of the pots and fed from the flow tray.

I'm hoping for a different outcome with this effort and have already discussed the idea of using fabric pots with perlite in the future with my brother. I like your idea of top feeding although the number of feedings makes the idea extremely labor intensive. It also make traveling away from the grow impossible which is my goal with this grow. With regular Hempy Pot I normally feed every other day which gives an excellent wet and dry cycle to encourage root growth.

Please stay tuned and comment as this process and grow continues. I will check out your grow of course. Thanks again.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Thanks, ya 4 times a day was done only because I could but for sure I agree. I'm way happier feeding 1 time a day now.

So I was thinking... instead of flooding the tray could you top feed and let it drain as it normally would, you may need a bigger res because of the delay but seems to me that could work.
For a feeder line I just ran a piece of air line hose once around the pot, I drilled small holes around the bottom and let the remainder bail out the end, worked great for the 2 years I used it. I had a circle of nutrient flow around the perimeter of the pot only difference really is that my res was on the floor under the pots....Hmmm 2 pumps, 1 return pump managed by a float and a feed pump on a timer... I could of had them both on the floor... Oh well too late now.... shit I coulda had my res next door in the cold room even better.

 

[BTzGrow]

Thanks Bob, I have considered the idea of getting the rings with the holes in them and connecting them on a small manifold so they get equal feed. Timed correctly maybe just turn the pump on for a shorter time and not have as much runoff to deal with would eliminate perhaps the reservoir tote underneath. Well too late on this particular grow in the moment. Perhaps later when I get back and I need to move them to the grow tent I could work on a different set up.

 

[BTzGrow]

I'm experiencing some level of excess/deficiency with my grow. It's not new as I have seen it many times in the past.

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• BTzGrow
• Sep 23, 2020

It's either Phosphorous or Potassium and I'm leaning towards Phosphorous. Reasons = Leaf Tips and Margins show burn combined with Petioles turning purplish color.

A Potassium deficiency also shows the same though along with older leaves turning pail and suffer chlorosis. Such as this.

IMG_0602.jpg

• BTzGrow
• Sep 23, 2020

Tough call and perhaps what I need to do is slightly increase both?

 

[Bob Loblaw]

IMO I like to consider the ph first. I agree with the phosphorus diagnosis but being hydro I'll always think ph first.

 

[BTzGrow]

Thanks Bob, I do typically run the pH around 5.75 and that is my first go to measurement always. I know as you have shared that if the pH isn't correct we get nutrient block. I was leaning a bit towards the Phosphorus myself as I typically run around 54ppm on my scale. I can bump it up another notch to around 67ppm by adding a single mil-liter per gallon of mix.

 

[BTzGrow]

I wanted to share my flood and drain photos from a couple of weeks ago.

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• BTzGrow
• Oct 3, 2020

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• BTzGrow
• Oct 3, 2020

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• BTzGrow
• Oct 3, 2020

The stand pipe on the left if the overflow and safety drain. When the flood get to that level it drains well enough to keep the system from overflowing the tray.

 

[BTzGrow]

This is a from the day I re-potted the plants on the 14th.

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• BTzGrow
• Sep 15, 2020

These two pictures are from a couple of weeks ago on the 17th -

Ebb&Flow.jpg

• BTzGrow
• Sep 17, 2020

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• BTzGrow
• Oct 3, 2020

This is a from this morning after being away for almost a week and using the Flood & Drain system.

SLH Oct 3.jpg

• BTzGrow
• Oct 3, 2020

As you can see they put on quite a grow over the last two weeks. Compare pictures with the temperature sensor on the back wall.

I fairly sure they have hit bottom and are now feeding off the reservoir. The current flooding schedule is M-W-F for 4minutes each time. I'm considering cutting back the tallest two in the back to bring them down the the same height as the one in from. Give them an additional week of veg to fill out a bit more and then move to a 12/12 cycle a week from now.

 

[InTheShed]

Looks like they did just fine without you BT! Stand back and watch 'em grow .

 

[BeanTownFan420]

 

[BTzGrow]

Looks like they did just fine without you BT! Stand back and watch 'em grow .

Yep! I agree. I had changed my nutes before leaving over to the MegaCrop regiment and they responded well.

I'm not quite ready to flip to flower yet and wanted to get them to fill in the roots a bit more before that point. I did feel that I needed to top two of them to bring them down in height.

SLH Oct 5.JPG

• BTzGrow
• Oct 7, 2020

So I topped two of them and cleaned out the bottoms to bring them down in line with the smaller one Checked them again today and they are responding like no big deal.

Welcome Beantown, it should be an interesting grow. I have grown these several times in the past and they are a nice easy grow and awesome smoke.

 

[BTzGrow]

From the 10th still on 18hr cycles

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• BTzGrow
• Oct 10, 2020

Today the 14th with two 12hr cycles of darkness.

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• BTzGrow
• Oct 14, 2020

They are currently 2ft from the perlite to tops. Going to have to practice my super cropping techniques for sure.

I took out the flood and drain system to get more head room for the grow going into stretch. Wouldn't you know I have misplaced my tent extension that adds an additional foot in height. I hate moves. I was sure I kept everything together on this. I'm going to see if I can find a drip system that I can feed from a small pump and run for a couple of minutes each day.

 

[InTheShed]

Congrats on the flip and with the headroom! Say "hi" to Felipe from me .

 

[BTzGrow]

Congrats on the flip and with the headroom! Say "hi" to Felipe from me .

Thanks, I will share that @FelipeBlu has been up to his arm pits for the last week with his harvest. Between potential rain and a work stoppage because of an potential exposure to Covid-19 he had extra time to get it all done. I will share that he had some dry before he had finished to process.

 

[BTzGrow]

Moving Day - I ran into a problem recently and fortunately I had a solution. Seems during my move back in April I misplaced aka put in a safe place the extension for my small GGT. The tent originally comes 5'7" tall which is good for vegging but for flowering a bigger plant it just doesn't have the head room. So the good folks at GGT understanding this have provided a 1 or 2 foot extensions if one finds themselves in need.

I had waited a little too long for my flip that occurred the beginning of last week and the girls were already pushing 2feet from the top of the perlite. I kept rooting around looking for the extension and still not to be found. I considered buying another but know that as soon as I do the original will show up.

I also have been meaning to craft my short tent raising tables but until recently the temperature in the high desert area I live in has made that near impossible. This morning the temps stayed under 70ish until well after 10am and I got out my skill saw and jig saw and went to work.

I now have two low level tables for my grow operation. One for the 2x4 tent and another for the 2x2.5 tent. I had bought some metal hairpin legs. One set is 14inches and the other at 20inches. This raises the bottom of the tents to working height so one doesn't have to get down on old cranky knees to work inside the tent. Here is a picture of the 2x4 raised 20inches off the floor.

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• BTzGrow
• Oct 21, 2020

Given the 2x4 tent is 6'7" tall the top of the tent is almost inaccessible without a step stool. I like that. The smaller tent is on the 14inch legs that also fold if needed. That will come in handy in the future as I have another move to the northern California coast near the Oregon border the beginning of this new years. Anyone feel the Ocean Breezes blowing in for a nice OG environment?

Light installed and the three girls moved in nicely with plenty of room to grow. I hope.

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• BTzGrow
• Oct 21, 2020

They have some really healthy tops going and obviously they are really enjoying the newer MegaCrop feed I have been giving them.

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• BTzGrow
• Oct 21, 2020